Rachel Maddow points out that the downgrading of the US credit score by S&P means little, but that the blame for any harm it might cause rests solely with the Republicans.

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I believe this is the same point that I have been attempting to drive home over and over this weekend.I appreciate Rachel Maddow's gift for breaking a complicated issue down and making it much more digestible for the public at large.

Just a reminder as to how we got here.

Courtesy of the Political Animal:

1980: Ronald Reagan runs for president, promising a balanced budget

1981 - 1989: With support from congressional Republicans, Reagan runs enormous deficits, adds $2 trillion to the debt.

1993: Bill Clinton passes economic plan that lowers deficit, gets zero votes from congressional Republicans.

1998: U.S. deficit disappears for the first time in three decades. Debt clock is unplugged.

2000: George W. Bush runs for president, promising to maintain a balanced budget.

2001: CBO shows the United States is on track to pay off the entirety of its national debt within a decade.

2001 - 2009: With support from congressional Republicans, Bush runs enormous deficits, adds nearly $5 trillion to the debt.

2002: Dick Cheney declares, “Deficits don’t matter.” Congressional Republicans agree, approving tax cuts, two wars, and Medicare expansion without even trying to pay for them.

2009: Barack Obama inherits $1.3 trillion deficit from Bush; Republicans immediately condemn Obama’s fiscal irresponsibility.

2009: Congressional Democrats unveil several domestic policy initiatives — including health care reform, cap and trade, DREAM Act — which would lower the deficit. GOP opposes all of them, while continuing to push for deficit reduction.

September 2010: In Obama’s first fiscal year, the deficit shrinks by $122 billion. Republicans again condemn Obama’s fiscal irresponsibility.

October 2010: S&P endorses the nation’s AAA rating with a stable outlook, saying the United States looks to be in solid fiscal shape for the foreseeable future.

November 2010: Republicans win a U.S. House majority, citing the need for fiscal responsibility.
December 2010: Congressional Republicans demand extension of Bush tax cuts, relying entirely on deficit financing. GOP continues to accuse Obama of fiscal irresponsibility.

March 2011: Congressional Republicans declare intention to hold full faith and credit of the United States hostage — a move without precedent in American history — until massive debt-reduction plan is approved.

July 2011: Obama offers Republicans a $4 trillion debt-reduction deal. GOP refuses, pushes debt-ceiling standoff until the last possible day, rattling international markets.

August 2011: S&P downgrades U.S. debt, citing GOP refusal to consider new revenues. Republicans rejoice and blame Obama for fiscal irresponsibility.

Any questions?

The True Villian of the Economic Meltdown.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:

But Obama is not the villain in this story. Every time I step back and ponder this sordid history, I am amazed that the Republican Party has any credibility and even 100 members of Congress, let alone a sizable House majority and enough juice to be driving the nation’s agenda as it is.

The Boston Globe ran a chart last Sunday that I’d buy billboard space to reproduce in every decent-size city in America, if I were running the Democratic National Committee. 

 (Here's the chart  to save your the trouble of searching for it.)

The premise of it was very simple: It showed how many trillions each president since Ronald Reagan has added to the nation’s debt. The debt was about $1 trillion when Reagan took office, and then: Reagan, $1.9 trillion; George H.W. Bush, $1.5 trillion (in just four years); Bill Clinton, $1.4 trillion; Obama, $2.4 trillion.

Oh, wait. I skipped someone. George W. Bush ran up $6.4 trillion. That’s nearly half—44.7 percent—of the $14.3 trillion total. We all know what did it—two massive tax cuts geared toward the rich (along with other similar measures, like slashing the capital gains and inheritance taxes), the off-the-books wars, the unfunded Medicare expansion, and so on. But the number is staggering and worth dwelling on. In a history covering 30 years, nearly half the debt was run up in eight. Even the allegedly socialist Obama at his most allegedly wanton doesn’t compare to Dubya; and Obama’s debt numbers, if he’s reelected, will surely not double or even come close as we gambol down Austerity Lane.

The GOP and the Teabaggers are going to use every one of their pet media outlets, from Fox News to Right Wing radio, to try and hang this debt crisis, and the lowering of our debt rating, on President Obama.

It is up to all of us, and what remains of the so called "liberal media," to continue pointing out who is REALLY responsible for this disaster.

And those responsible are the Republicans who increased the debt by 6.4 trillion dollars between 2000 and 2008, the Right Wing media that provided cover for them while they were doing it, and the Teabaggers who are now determined to fight this President every step of the way so that he cannot repair the damage, in the hopes that they can blame him for the whole mess in 2012 and put another GOP asshole in the White House to finish the job of bankrupting this nation once and for all.

(H/T to the Obama Diary.)

D.C. Douglas thanks the Tea Party.

This guy gets better and better all the time.

Rachel Maddow and Ezra Klein discuss the downgrading of the US debt by Standard and Poor's for the first time in history.

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In my opinion this black eye on America's reputation is solely the fault of the Teabaggers, and it is important that the media drive that point home over and over again, so that the voters know exactly WHO is unfit to serve in Congress.

I would also hope that recall petitions are being written, and that activists are preparing to head out to the streets to gather signatures first thing in the morning. In my opinion this is a situation which simply cannot be allowed to continue.

Jon Stewart points out that the Teabaggers are unhappy with the debt deal because "government still exists."

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Yeah I guess these so-called "patriots" simply will not be happy until there is nothing left of the country but a smoldering crater.

You know like the one that sits between their ears where their brains are supposed to be located.

My thoughts on the debt agreement-Update

The debt ceiling agreement passed the House last night and will likely pass the Senate today and President Obama will sign it.

Personally I think this debt agreement is terrible. While the debt ceiling is raised, the cuts are too deep and there is no tax increase for the wealthy.

I realize compromise is not perfect but this is terrible. It's not compromise when one side gets much more than the other. That is called taking it in the ass.

The Republicans in both houses of Congress should be tried for treason. In my opinion the real reason they dragged this out is because they want the economy to tank so the voting public has a reason to elect a Republican for president in 2012. Wanting the president to fail is treason. As much as I despise George W. Bush I never wanted him to fail, but I knew he would, and he did. Much more than I imagined he would.

The Democrats need to fight harder and all liberal voters need to get their ass to the polls in 2012 and vote them cousin loving Teathuglicans out.

What debt ceiling agreement would be complete without the Big Mouth flapping her jaw?


Joe Biden is absolutely correct. The Teabaggers are terrorists.

Update-I would be remiss to not mention I was inspired by Gabby Giffords return to the House Floor, even if she is not my Congresswoman. Another poster on another blog mentioned she is the Real Undefeated. Yes my friend that is absolutely correct.

Gabby Giffords triumphant return to the floor of Congress to vote on raising the debt ceiling.

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Amazing!

That was JUST what we needed at this time of acrimony and strife.

Did President Obama get taken in this debt ceiling compromise, or did he quietly, and calmly win again?

Interesting analysis from The People's View:

Here's the quick and dirty (The White House has a summary here and more details here):

• $900 billion in initial cuts (below CBO's baseline) through capping discretionary spending (meaning that nothing is being cut right now). Both parties had largely agreed to these cuts during the debt talks. This is really only about $750 billion of actual cuts; the other $150 billion comes from saving on interest payments on the national debt. This also raises the debt ceiling by $900 billion.
• Initial cuts do not include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or programs for the poor. It actually increases Pell grants - even in Boehner's bill.
• $350 billion (almost half of these cuts) in cuts in the base defense budget - these are not simply the savings coming from winding down the wars. This actually cuts the base defense budget.
• Specifically protects the President's historic investment in Pell Grants.
• Sets up a bipartisan "supercommittee" of Congress (half and half Democrats and Republicans) to achieve $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reductions with both tax reform and entitlement reform on the table.
• They must achieve at least $1.2 trillion in reduction or automatic cuts set in of that amount, spread equally between security (Defense and Homeland Security, mainly) and domestic spending set in. Social Security, Medicaid, low-income assistance programs and Medicare benefits are exempt (yes, I know you can swear you read or heard on the ether that it is not so, but it is. Follow along below). These are the so-called "triggers."
• Either way, the debt limit goes increases additionally by a commensurate amount to the cuts (at least $1.2 trillion, at most $1.5 trillion).
• A balanced budget amendment is guaranteed a vote, but not passage. But Congress can avoid both the supercommittee requirement and the alternate automatic cuts if it sends a balanced budget amendment to the states (which. will. never. happen. - because Republicans won't agree to anything balanced in terms of the balanced budget amendment.).    

Remember that the President can still veto anything coming out of this committee and Congress (in which case the triggers go into effect).

 
Now let's get to the fun part: the triggers. The more than half-a-trillion in defense and security spending cut "trigger" for the Republicans will hardly earn a mention on the Firebagger Lefty blogosphere. Hell, it's a trigger supposedly for the Republicans, and of course, there's always It'sNotEnough-ism to cover it. No, the loudest screeching noise you hear coming from Krugman and the ideologue Left is, of course, Medicare. Oh, no, the President is agreeing to a Medicare trigger!!! Oh noes!!! Everybody freak out right now! But let's look at the deal again, shall we?  

From the White House fact sheet, here is what the President actually agreed to.   

"Consistent With Past Practice, Sequester Would Be Divided Equally Between Defense and Non-Defense Programs and Exempt Social Security, Medicaid, and Low-Income Programs: Consistent with the bipartisan precedents established in the 1980s and 1990s, the sequester would be divided equally between defense and non-defense program, and it would exempt Social Security, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, programs for low-income families, and civilian and military retirement. Likewise, any cuts to Medicare would be capped and limited to the provider side. Read that again." 

That's what the media and the whiners are not telling you. The President agreed to no Medicare benefit cuts in the "trigger." None. The cuts, if they automatically happen, would go to whom? The providers. Who are these providers? Doctors, hospitals, clinics, Medical device makers, service providers, drug manufacturers. Who do you think they mostly donate to in the political season? 

The entire pressure on these Medicare cuts are on the private medical (and pharmaceutical) industry! So let's ask that question again. The Medicare "trigger" is a trigger really from whom again? As a matter of fact, both big triggers (Defense and Medicare provider cuts) are triggers for the Republicans.

The author of the post (Who by the way is a MUCH better policy wonk than I am) also makes the point that these "triggers" cannot go into effect until 2013, which is AFTER we have the next election.  In other words the make up of the Congress might have substantially changed by that point and the President may have MORE instead of less support. 

Go ahead and read the whole post, and visit the numerous links provided and determine for yourself who knocked who down and took their lunch money.

Personally I feel much better.

 

A weary President Obama announces deficit agreement.

Like most liberals I am not even remotely happy that we seem to have bent over backwards for the good of the country while the Republicans have done nothing but act like anarchists determined to see America's reputation, and standing in the world, destroyed.

Especially since it appears that even this agreement (IF it actually gets passed) would still not ensure that our AAA credit rating would remain intact:

Stock markets around the world rallied on Monday, in relief that the world's largest economy would probably avoid running out of cash this week. But the agreement, which includes around $2.5 trillion of spending cuts over the next decade, has been criticised by some on both sides of the political divide, and will probably not save America's triple-A credit rating.

You know I once described to a friend that the problem with many relationships is that the person who cares the least about its survival, or the feelings of the other person, is the one in charge.  Since they have less invested in the relationship's survival they are free to act with impunity, while the person who is determined to "make it work" is frantically attempting to smooth things over and keep the relationship together.

Essentially that is what we are seeing in this situation between the President and the Democratic party, and the Republicans and their Teabagging Rottweilers.  A scorched earth approach does not seem to bother the Teabaggers because they either don't understand the repercussions, or simply don't give a shit.

But watch the video up above again.

Do you see how tired and saddened that man appears?

That is a man who felt the needs of the American people in his BONES.  In this relationship HE is the one who cares too much, and who will always do what he needs to do to save the relationship/country, and the people who will be devastated by its demise.

And that, despite whatever we may feel about this apparent capitulation, is WHY he deserves our support and our faith.  He did not give up on us, and by God we should not give up on him.

You can wear a thousand flag pins, and own NOTHING but red, white, and blue underwear, but if you cannot put the needs of the American people above your own ideology, than you are NOT a patriot! And you are not part of the solution, you ARE the problem!

Sarah Palin still does not get it

For starters, it was George Bush who signed TARP into law. He made this mess not Obama. 99.9% of people agree the debt ceiling should be raised. The reason the Republicans do not want to raise the debt ceiling is in order to impeach Obama since he does not get blow jobs from interns.

I think this cartoon pretty much says it all about how the Teabaggers are screwing up our country right now.

Are you as tired of this infinitesimally tiny group of undereducated, historically retarded, and politically inept bunch of morons endangering the ability of Americans to receive the money they need to survive from their government while actively destroying our reputation around the world?

If so feel free to sound off in the comments section.

Adult language will not only be allowed, it will be encouraged.

Laura Ingraham blasts Sarah Palin's ghostwritten Facebook post. Seriously?

Courtesy of Politico:

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, one of the high-profile certified non-moderates urging the GOP to support John Boehner's debt ceiling bill, leveled criticism at Sarah Palin during today's show for raising the prospect of 2012 primary challenges to House Republicans.

Palin published a Facebook message Thursday urging Republicans to stand firm on fiscal issues, adding: "Everyone I talk to still believes in contested primaries."

"Well, just, watch out, 'Everyone I talk to still believes in contested primaries.' God bless her, Sarah Palin's saying that in a message she put out," Ingraham said.

She proceeded to run through a list of conservatives who have endorsed Boehner's plan, quipping sarcastically: "I guess we're threatening, implicitly, explicitly, Paul Ryan, Col. Allen West, Mike Pence is gonna be out of the House of Representatives. He'll be the governor of Indiana. Maybe we can run someone else as governor of Indiana, to run for the governorship, 'cause Pence is obviously a sellout. Can I have the whole list of sellouts? I need the list so I can make sure I understand who's going to get the primary challenge."

"It's a very odd way to go about things if we have a common goal," Ingraham continued, urging tea party-aligned Republicans to seek a "real and meaningful" role — "not just, ok, I'm the spoiler here. I stood on principle, everybody else is impure."

"You can stand on that soapbox and it might make you feel good in the moment. It make might you feel good to put out these Facebook postings," she said. "But in the end, does it actually advance your cause? And does it advance the cause of fiscal restraint, which I think we all have?"

Interesting, it looks like Palin's scorched earth philosophy is not selling well with the people who have some rudimentary connection to reality.

After all Ingraham is pretty damn wingnutty her own darn self, so if Palin starts losing the batshit crazy crowd, she will end up simply standing next to an isolated lake in a remote part of the world talking to herself.

Though come to think of it, that is already kind of what she is doing NOW!

Only in the rapidly approaching future, nobody will bother to pay any attention to what the crazy lady is screaming into the chilly Alaskan night.  Pretty sure Todd and her kids (Except Bristol of course) stopped listening to her quite some time ago.

Lawrence O'Donnells' epic takedown of Teabagger, and deadbeat dad, Joe Walsh.

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As a divorced father myself, who gladly paid my child support payments on time and in full, I share O'Donnell's disgust with Rep. Joe Walsh.

I cannot tell you how angry it makes me to hear politicians use children to make a political point while refusing to support policies, or social programs, that they so desperately need.

How could we possibly trust a politician who does not even care about his OWN kids enough to make sure they are well cared for, to help protect ours?

Horrified by what he was instrumental in unleashing on America, John McCain tells the Teabaggers to get the hell off of his lawn and allow the debt ceiling to be raised!

You know I would like to give Senator McCain credit for standing up to these bullies, and giving them a long overdue lesson in politics, but I can't because they are his damn fault!

If McCain had not plucked the cross-eyed, crazy ass harpie out of the wilds of Wasilla to be his running mate, there is very good chance the Tea Party would never have received enough attention to gain the kind of political influence it is now abusing.

There were many times, including during his own reelection campaign, that McCain could have stood up to these assholes and put them in their place.  But due to his own cowardice, and fear of losing his precious Senate seat, he has been silent.

So fuck John McCain, this is too little, too late.

The question he should ask himself from this day until his last days on this earth is where was HE when his country needed him?

(H/T to the Plum Line.)

What is orange in color, leaks like a sieve, and cannot do math? This guy!

Courtesy of the Guardian:

In an embarrassing development for John Boehner, the Republican Congress speaker, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) ruled on Tuesday night that his bill would have only cut spending by $850bn (£517bn)over the next decade, not the $1.2tn he had aimed for. Republicans are now racing to rewrite the legislation, and have pushed back a congressional vote on the plan from Wednesday to Thursday at the earliest.

Although Boehner was already struggling to find support for his package, the delay increases the risk that Washington will fail to agree a deal to raise the debt ceiling before 2 August, when the federal government is expected to run out of money.

Just another reminder that Republican math does not work in the real world.

Greta Van Susteren pulls the short straw and once again has to pretend that Sarah Palin has anything intelligent to say about what is going on in this country.

You know the first thing that leaps out at me is that Fox News hosts ALWAYS refer to Palin as "Governor" multiple times, like they are trying to remind their audience that once upon a time this dimwit actually had a real job.

Then only a few sentences into her remarks she starts the middle school attacks on our President. (By the way you nasty harpy bitch, the President is referred to as "No Drama Obama." HE is not the reason that we are facing a potential crisis, that would be the politically illiterate Teabaggers YOU helped get elected to sabotage our country!)

By the way Geitner said we "would not default" based on his belief that the politicians would not really allow that to happen:

Geithner said Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "had been absolutely clear, they are not going to let this country default.

But pressed several times, Geithner refused to reveal if the Obama administration had a back-up plan and had begun deciding which checks would be signed and which would not.

"We will do everything we can to mitigate the damage," he said, revealing that the United States writes 80 million checks a month.

That does NOT mean there is not a crisis, only that the grownups will try to minimize the damage if the children continue throwing a fit and not taking seriously the responsibilities that the American people assigned to them.

Okay is it just me, or does Palin look especially venomous today?


Gee I certainly hope I did not have anything to do with that.


"Well scaring the American people is exactly what President Obama is doing in that bizarre speech he gave last night. It reminded me of when he insisted that TARP had to be passed. You know it was life or death at that time also. We had to..uh..increase spending or the Federal government, or people would be starving on the streets..I mean..uh uh..look at what TARP resulted in."

You know I hate to distract Palin while she is on one of these anti-Obama rants of hers with facts (After all we know how much she hates facts, because they always seem to favor liberals.), but TARP was passed in October of 2008, by George W. Bush.  It is kind of hard to blame President Obama for legislation that was put into place BEFORE he was in office.

Oh, and you would think that Palin might remember this, since her running mate John McCain suspended his campaign to help get it passed. (Damn, no WONDER Palin hates facts so much!)

But sorry to interrupt, you were saying?

"Reinvent the will?"  You know I have never met an Alaskan who could not say "wheel" properly. Every time she opens her mouth she embarrasses the crap out of us.

You know the minute that Palin says, concerning the debt ceiling, "I don't want to see it raised," is when a real journalist would stop the interview and apologize to their audience for bringing on somebody who has no understanding of the topic being discussed.

And riddle me this Batman, why are the Teabaggers, who wave the Constitution around like it is a sacred document on par with the Bible, now pushing for a Balanced Budget Amendment?  Aren't they the crowd who believe that the Amendments which freed the slaves and allowed women the right to vote, are what started this country's downward spiral into Socialism in the first place?

When I watch these "interviews" there is always a moment where I stop and wonder if ANYBODY is really taking what this idiot says seriously.  I hear her spout these canned talking points, and rattle on using inflammatory language, and yet everytime she stops to take a breath I realize that the oxygen that she just used up was completely wasted. Actually, not that I want to see any harm come to her, I kind of think ALL of the oxygen she uses is wasted on her.

I really think that the only reason that we see Palin in this interview is because she is contractually obligated to appear on camera a couple of time a year, and that she was overdue. She has no expertise on the topic, adds nothing to the debate, and, even with the teleprompter reflected in her glasses, relies almost solely on the regurgitation of one size fits all talking points that essentially make her sound like a Chatty Cathy doll.

Her looks are fading rapidly, her wigs are becoming more obvious, and her talking points are becoming punchlines for late night comedians.  Hell even her most ardent supporters cannot force their families to go to her movie with them, or buy her daughter's book.

Even an endorsement from her, which used to carry some weight in conservative circles, would probably hurt a candidate far more than it would help them, so I cannot see anybody seeking her out for a photo op.

I still think we need to keep at least one eye cocked in her direction, because her base is potentially the most likely groups of Americans to open fire in a mall, or drown their children because they are possessed by liberal demons, but I think for all intents and purposes that Palin is yesterday's news.

Of course I still think we all need to buy Joe's book, and Nick's movie.  After all every corpse deserves a postmortem.

P.S. Oh, and don't forget the babygate book too. I have a call into the author for an update, andI hope to have that for you soon.

A graph that every Teabagger needs to see.

Courtesy of Ezra Klein:

What’s also important, but not evident, on this chart is that Obama’s major expenses were temporary — the stimulus is over now — while Bush’s were, effectively, recurring. The Bush tax cuts didn’t just lower revenue for 10 years. It’s clear now that they lowered it indefinitely, which means this chart is understating their true cost. Similarly, the Medicare drug benefit is costing money on perpetuity, not just for two or three years. And Boehner, Ryan and others voted for these laws and, in some cases, helped to craft and pass them.

To relate this specifically to the debt-ceiling debate, we’re not raising the debt ceiling because of the new policies passed in the past two years. We’re raising the debt ceiling because of the accumulated effect of policies passed in recent decades, many of them under Republicans. It’s convenient for whichever side isn’t in power, or wasn’t recently in power, to blame the debt ceiling on the other party. But it isn’t true.

This is the main reason I have NEVER taken the Teabaggers seriously because they are so clearly resistant to recognizing that the tremendous economic problems facing our country have virtually NOTHING to do with President Obama and EVERYTHING to do with George W. Bush, the fake president who came before him.

Let's face it, if the Teabaggers were serious about "taking their country back," they would have been Democrats or even true Independents, not obviously transparent covert Republicans.

Oh, and they NEVER would have been ignorant enough to call themselves the "Tea Party" either.

The President asks the American people for help in solving the looming debt crisis.

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Courtesy of MSNBC:

Decrying a "partisan three-ring circus" in the nation's capital, President Barack Obama criticized a newly minted Republican plan to avert an unprecedented government default Monday night and said congressional leaders must produce a compromise that can reach his desk before the Aug. 2 deadline.

"The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn't vote for a dysfunctional government," the president said in a hastily arranged prime-time televised speech.

He appealed to the public to contact lawmakers and demand "a balanced approach" to reducing federal deficits.

In his call to action, Obama recalled former Republican commanders in chief. "In the past, raising the debt ceiling was routine ... Congress has always passed it, and every President has signed it. President Reagan did it 18 times. George W. Bush did it seven times. And we have to do it by next Tuesday, Aug. 2, or else we won't be able to pay all of our bills."

I thought the President sounded exasperated, and weary from fighting over every little thing. He has done just about everything imaginable to make this problem go away and has volunteered far deeper cuts than most Democrats are comfortable with, and STILL the Teabaggers are holding a gun to the Republicans head and refusing to let them negotiate in good faith.

I certainly hope that the voters are paying attention and realizing just WHO is acting like the responsible grownup and who is acting like the petulant child.

If you want to contact your elected officials and tell them to stop playing politics and do the right thing, just click here to find out who needs a piece of your mind.

Sarah disrespects President Obama, again on Facebook

From Facebook

After listening to the President’s press conference today, let’s keep in mind the following:

This is the same president who proposed an absurdly irresponsible budget that would increase our debt by trillions of dollars, and whose party failed to even put forward a budget in over 800 days! This is the same president who is pushing our country to the brink because of his reckless spending on things like the nearly trillion dollar “stimulus” boondoggle. This is the same president who ignored his own debt commission’s recommendations and demonized the voices of fiscal sanity who proposed responsible plans to reform our entitlement programs and rein in our dangerous debt trajectory. This is the same president who wanted to push through an increase in the debt ceiling that didn’t include any cuts in government spending! This is the same president who wants to slam Americans with tax hikes to cover his reckless spending, but has threatened to veto a bill proposing a balanced budget amendment. This is the same president who hasn’t put forward a responsible plan himself, but has rejected reasonable proposals that would tackle our debt. This is the same president who still refuses to understand that the American electorate rejected his big government agenda last November. As I said in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Tax Day Tea Party rally, “We don’t want it. We can’t afford it. And we are unwilling to pay for it.”

Now the President is outraged because the GOP House leadership called his bluff and ended discussions with him because they deemed him an obstruction to any real solution to the debt crisis.

He has been deemed a lame duck president. And he is angry now because he is being treated as such.

His foreign policy strategy has been described as “leading from behind.” Well, that’s his domestic policy strategy as well. Why should he be surprised that he’s been left behind in the negotiations when he’s been leading from behind on this debt crisis?

Thank you, GOP House leaders. Please don’t get wobbly on us now.

2012 can’t come soon enough.

- Sarah Palin

Let me correct some things here, there has been a budget deficit since 2001, the year George Dumbya Bush took over, not 800 days. We had a budget surplus during most of the Clinton administration and Bush wiped it out in less than a year. Bush also raised the debt ceiling 7 times

Bush also promised to pay off the debt, which he never did. And he cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans.

Saint Ronald Reagan raised it 18 times.

Bill Clinton? Four times

The tax raises President Obama wants is for the people making over $250,000 a year. That is about 2% of the population.

If anyone here is a lame duck, it's John Boehner and Eric Cantor. Also the rest of the Republican lawmakers who say no to every proposal the President makes.